Apple's Q2 net profit at $9.5 bn, down 18 percent

Apple posted quarterly net profit of $9.5 billion, down by 18 percent. The company registered a net profit of $11.6 billion in the year ago quarter.

Apple posted quarterly revenue of $43.6 billion in comparison to $39.2 billion in the year-ago quarter. International sales accounted for 66 percent of the quarter's revenue. In the second quarter, the company sold 37.4 million iPhones and 19.5 million iPads. The company sold 37.4 million iPhones in the quarter, compared to 35.1 million in the year-ago quarter. Apple also sold 19.5 million iPads during the quarter, compared to 11.8 million in the year-ago quarter.

The company sold just under 4 million Macs, compared to 4 million in the year-ago quarter. "We are pleased to report record March quarter revenue thanks to continued strong performance of iPhone and iPad," said Tim Cook, Apple's CEO.

Our teams are hard at work on some amazing new hardware, software, and services and we are very excited about the products in our pipeline added Cook.

"Our cash generation remains very strong, with $12.5 billion in cash flow from operations during the quarter and an ending cash balance of $145 billion," said Peter Oppenheimer, Apple's CFO.

In terms of third quarter guidance, Apple has predicted revenue between $33.5 - $35.5 billion, gross margin between 36 percent and 37 percent, and operating expenses between $3.85 - $3.95 billion. Apple also announced that its board of directors has authorized a significant increase to the company's program to return capital to shareholders.

The Company expects to utilize a total of $100 billion of cash under the expanded program by the end of calendar 2015. This represents a $55 billion increase to the program announced last year and translates to an average rate of $30 billion per year from the time of the first dividend payment in August 2012 through December 2015.

As part of this program, the board has increased its share repurchase authorization to $60 billion from the $10 billion level announced last year. This is the largest single share repurchase authorization in history and is expected to be executed by the end of calendar 2015. Apple also expects to utilize about $1 billion annually to net-share-settle vesting restricted stock units.

Additionally, the board has approved a 15 percent increase in the company's quarterly dividend and today has declared a dividend of $3.05 per common share, payable on May 16, 2013 to shareholders of record as of the close of business on May 13, 2013. Apple is among the largest dividend payers in the world, with annual payments of about $11 billion.